Between Panth and Protests

IT IS NOT midday yet but the sun has set the air in Dayalpura roiling with heat. But more than the weath­er, it is the political climate in this part of the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha constituency that is heating up things in this corner of Punjab that borders Pakistan.

Khadoor Sahib is a ‘panthic’ constituency. The ad­jective comes from the root panth or community. In Punjab’s political vocabulary it signifies a constituency where religion dictates the parameters of politics. In Khadoor Sahib, the influence of Sikhism in political affairs is probably among the most pronounced anywhere in the state. It is also a fact that during the heyday of terrorism, at least four Assembly segments of the constit­uency—Patti, Tarn Taran, Khem Karan, and Khadoor Sahib itself—were badly affected and remained the stronghold of armed sepa­ratism. The constituency, as it stands today, came into being after delimitation in 2008. The spread of the constituency is interesting: it is the only Lok Sabha seat in Punjab that has all three regions of the state, each with its own distinct features, represented in it. And that shows in the on-going campaign.

On the stage along with the Congress candidate Kulbir Zira are former Khem Karan MLA Sukhpal Singh Bhullar and a clutch of sarpanches (village headmen) from neighbouring villages. Bhullar, who lost in 2022 at the hands of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate is trying to enthuse the gathering of activists and party supporters and says, “Twenty days ago the hawa (wind) was in our favour. Today people may be talking about Amritpal but don’t be disheartened. It only takes a moment for the hawa to change.” In one sentence, Bhullar has let the cat out of the bag. The presence of Amirtpal—a detenu under the National Security Act (NSA) lodged in Dibrugarh jail—on the slate of candidates in Khadoor Sahib has changed the political dynamics in the constituency. Dayalpura lies near Bhikhiwind town of the constituency in the cis-Sutlej river area which has a heavy imprint of religious politics. Zira—the candi­date hails from the eponymous town—lies across the Sutlej in the south where religious politics is at a discount. All this is beginning to have an effect on his campaign.

“Look at these seven crooks,” Gurjant Singh from Bhagwan­pura village says about the assembled village headmen on the stage in Dayalpura. “They could have easily brought at least 100- odd people from each of their villages and this rally would have been spectacular. But now we just have a handful of people from each village. I brought eighty people, why couldn’t they do that? They have secretly made an agreement with Amritpal and his people to support his candidature,” says Singh.

Singh is a Congress activist and to that extent his anger is un­derstandable. But the truth is more complicated than what he thinks. The troubling reality of this area is that young voters—al­most en masse—are in awe of Amritpal and the sarpanches know which way the wind is blowing. Their response is not a matter of choice but one of responding to the political-religious environ­ment. And in this part of Punjab, with its history of secessionist violence, one does not trifle with such matters.

“I am not worried. I know that in villages Amritpal’s people are forcing men and women with menacing displays of swords and weapons. This will only go in my favour,” Kulbir Zira tells Open in Dayalpura. His words are meant to convey confidence but there is nervousness among his campaign managers. Amritpal cannot be taken lightly.

What about the other candidates? In Amritsar, the Shiro­mani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate, Virsa Singh Valtoha, utters similar brave words about Amritpal. Valtoha is a man with a past. A former member of the All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF), Valtoha was once close to Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and Harminder Singh Sandhu, the two terrorist masterminds. He is in many ways the ‘ideal’ candidate for the contest in Kha­door Sahib. He lost the 2022 Assembly election in Khem Karan.

Seated at his desk in his study in Amritsar with a picture of Bhindranwale on a side table, Valtoha tells Open that he is the true panthic candidate. “There are people who seem to be Sikhs but who will ultimately not vote for Sikh interests. They were once with Congress, later they were with AAP. There are no doubt some youth who are attracted to him [Amritpal] but they are being misled,” he says. His brand of politics is summed up in a single sentence that he utters about what he would bring to the table: “If the panth is strong, Punjab is strong and if Punjab is strong the panth will be strong.”

Just off the highway across Sarhali Kalan—a once troubled hamlet that was literally out of bounds in the era of terrorism— is the village of Chohla Sahib. Chohla Sahib is in an ‘interstitial space’, one not devoid of religious politics but where religion does not have an overpowering influence on politics. It is just about 10km from Harike, the point where the Majha region of Punjab gently melds into Malwa. Here, at the local school, during a break, two educationists are discussing the nature of politics in the constituency. “Is it that the panth can only be de­fended by swords and guns?” asks Parminder Kaur, the local school principal. Kaur, who is in her forties and is also writing her PhD dissertation, worries about the influence of Amritpal. Her question is answered by Balbir Singh, a retired officer of the state education department. He cites an example: “I asked the teenage daughters of my neighbour what they find appealing about Amritpal. Their answer was his flowing garb with a sash bearing a scabbard and sword, the gunmen around him… all this makes him very appealing.”

Punjab’s politics continues in its old orbit. Across the political spectrum, the belief that Amritpal has been propped up by the Centre is so strong that it defies elementary questions. Or that he has been launched to cut SAD to size

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One could dismiss this fascination with guns and swords on the part of young, impressionable minds as a passing fad. That would be a mistake. In many ways, Amritpal represents the old, mythic image of a sant-sipahi (saint soldier) that has a very strong imprint on the Sikh psyche going back all the way to the sixth Sikh guru, Guru Hargobind, who mixed miri and piri, or spiritual and temporal authority. It is that deep historical time that has never ceased to have a deleterious effect on Punjab’s politics. In Khadoor Sahib, people who have seen the depredations of terrorism, those who are likely to be above 45 years of age, are rather unlikely to vote for Amritpal. But if their experience has chastised them, there is a younger cohort ready to fill in the abandoned political slot.

What about the other, contemporary, reality—the farmers’ agitation—and its effect on politics? One can safely say that along with religion, it is the farmers’ agitation that forms the second axis on which Punjab’s politics is being organised.

THE BEAM OF the drawing room in Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan’s home has photographs of Bhagat Singh and Kartar Singh Sarabha among other freedom fighters and thinkers of the struggle against colonial rule. It is the Pun­jabi variant of the Marxist pantheon. There are no pictures of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, nor those of Lenin and Stalin. But the idea is clear: Punjab Marxism is practical and the oppressors in its field of vision are ‘landlords’ and ‘New Delhi’. There is little need for theoretical constructs like the ‘labour theory of value’ or ‘organic composition of capital’. At 74, the general secretary of the Bharti Kisan Union (BKU) (Ekta-Ugrahan) remains sharp as ever even as he is not in the pink of health. He speaks at length about the farmers’ “movement” in Punjab to Open at his home in Kokri Kalan in Moga district and admits that it has hit an impasse. He says the current agitation, the one that began earlier this year, will remain fruitless. “[Sarwan Singh] Pandher and others acted in haste. The demand for a legal guarantee for minimum support prices (MSPs) is not a simple and easy struggle. It requires a nationwide agita­tion and the conditions for that are not ripe,” he says. The result is that the gov­ernment in New Delhi has managed to create an impression that the agitation has run out of steam.

What impact will this have on Punjab’s politics? Sukhdev Singh an­swers the question indirectly: “Some years ago, people voted for AAP with gusto and thought their lives would change instantly. Now they are not happy. The situation in Punjab is un­certain and no one can say which party will prevail in the elections.” It is a re­vealing answer. Punjab has close to 37 BKU and other farmers’ unions and none of them agree with each other on most subjects. The result—the ‘farmer vote’ is likely to splinter among various political parties, with a slice going to the party able to influence the leader of each faction. There is, however, one unifying factor: none of them like the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and protests against BJP candidates across Punjab are almost de rigueur.

All this shows in the political trends quite clearly. Take the Bath­inda Lok Sabha constituency as an example. Here, the sitting MP is SAD’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal. If one travels on the road from Bagha Purana in Moga district to Bhucho Mandi in Bathinda district, one encounters a healthy number of saffron and Akali blue flags on the road. But this is not a marker of electoral strength as it used to be once upon a time. The reality is that Badal is facing a stiff challenge from Gurmeet Singh Khuddian, the AAP candidate. Khuddian, a minister in the Bhagwant Mann government, is known as a giant killer after he defeated former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal from Lambi in Muktsar district in the 2022 Assembly elections. But otherwise, Khuddian has had an unremarkable career. His appeal to the electorate in Bathinda is his “simplicity” and some­how that is striking a chord. But behind that rather endearing asser­tion lies a no-holds-barred organisational effort by AAP. To ensure that Khuddian prevails, AAP has even enlisted its two MLAs from the area tainted by corruption charges.

On May 3, the party brought in Vijay Singla, MLA from the Mansa Assembly segment—sacked as minister from the Mann cabinet in 2022—and Amit Rattan Kotfatta, the MLA representing Bathinda (Rural). In bringing these two into the campaign fold, AAP has discarded its anti-corruption credentials. Singla has sway over the trading community in Mansa and Kot­fatta is similarly influential in his area. Other MLAs have been told to ensure victories in their segments or say goodbye to their chances of candidature in the 2027 Assembly polls. Some BKU factions have questioned AAP about these choices but this is a brutal political match and the campaign against corruption is a sideshow of a sideshow. This is true of other constituencies in Malwa as well.

The other, ‘interesting’ candidate is Lakhvir Singh Lakha Sidhana, who faces court trials from Malout to Tarn Taran across Punjab. He is the nominee of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) or SAD(A), Simranjit Singh Mann’s party. Lakha, while not considered in the winning zone, has an appeal not dissimilar to Amritpal’s. It is not a coinci­dence that Amritpal’s mother, Balwinder Kaur, has campaigned for Lakha Sidhana.

The result is that AAP is giving a tough fight to SAD in what were once its strongholds. Even in Sangrur, where the separatist Simranjit Singh Mann prevailed in the Lok Sabha by­poll in June 2022, AAP is giving him a hard time. There are keen contests in Ferozepur, Faridkot, Bathinda, Sangrur and Patiala.

The one thing that remains constant in Punjab’s political life is the belief in conspiracy theories about ‘New Delhi’, ‘agencies’, and anything that allegedly impinges on Punjab’s ‘freedom’. The result is that Punjab’s politics continues in its old orbit, between panth and protest. Across the political spectrum—from left to right—the belief that Amritpal has been propped up by the Centre is so strong that it defies elementary questions. For example, even if this were true, surely the choice to reject the detained man lies in the hands of voters in Punjab? Why are they so enamoured of Amritpal? To cite another example, consider the claim that Amirtpal has been launched to cut SAD to size. It begs the question why the government would take such dangerous steps to cut to size a political party that is unable to recover its fortunes even in its strongholds in Malwa? But no one bothers to ask such questions.

About The Author

Siddharth Singh

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